As the UK appears to be moving towards reinstating its lapsed maritime patrol aircraft capability, a potential bidder in a competitive process has revealed plans to fly a demonstrator.
L-3 Mission Integration has led the design of a multi-mission aircraft (MMA) based on the Bombardier Q400 airframe, and a test aircraft is now ready for adaptation by Canada’s Cascade Aerospace.
Dubbed the Q400 MMA, the platform will be modified to carry an additional 4,540kg (10,000lb) of fuel to enable long-range operations, and a bomb bay for the carriage of torpedoes for the anti-submarine warfare role.
“All the design work is completed, and we will start flight testing early next year,” says Nicholas “Flash” Gordon, director international programmes for L-3 Mission Integration.
The company’s MMA configuration also includes a L-3 mission management system that is already operational on some Lockheed Martin P-3 Orions, combined with a maritime search radar and electronic warfare equipment from Selex ES. Acoustic systems, which will share commonality with the installation on the UK Royal Navy’s AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 helicopter, will be provided by Ultra Electronics Sonar Systems.
Gordon says L-3 hopes to secure a supplemental type certificate for the Q400 adaptations by mid-2016, and that the MMA version will be offered to the UK and existing European P-3 operators. The modified type would be able to fly 800nm (1,480km) and remain on station for more than 4h, with the option of extending this further through air-to-air refuelling, says L-3.
Were it to be successful in promoting the type for the Royal Air Force, L-3 would modify the first of around 12 aircraft at its Greenville site in Texas, with the remainder to be modified in the UK. “We have already had discussions with a number of companies,” Gordon says.
While the Boeing 737-based P-8A is the frontrunner to meet any revived UK requirement, Gordon notes that L-3’s turboprop-based offering would be around one-third the cost of a jet platform.
“The challenge is cost, at a time when the UK is financially constrained,” he notes. “We need an open and transparent debate, and potentially a competition.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
